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Antigone

The body of Polynices, Antigone's brother, has been ordered to remain unburied by Creon, the new king of Thebes. Antigone defies the law, sealing her fate. Originally produced in Paris during the Nazi occupation, Anouilh's Antigone was seen by the French as theatre resistance and by Germans as an affirmation of authority.

The Oresteia

In The Oresteia, Aeschylus dramatizes the myth of the curse on the royal house of Argos. The action begins when King Agamemnon returns victorious from the Trojan War, only to be treacherously slain by his own wife. It ends with the trial of their son, Orestes, who slew his mother to avenge her treachery - a trial with the goddess Athena as judge, the god Apollo as defense attorney, and, as prosecutors, relentless avenging demons called The Furies.

Antigone

After the death of their father, Oedipus, Antigone and Ismene return to Thebes. The ruler is their unyielding uncle by marriage, Creon, who assumed command after the death of the sons of Oedipus, Eteocles, and Polynices in a fratricidal struggle to take control of the city. Creon has the body of one brother buried with full civic honors but forbids the burial of the body of the other, whom he regards as a traitor. Antigone's challenge to Creon's decree, which she considers unjust, results in the extinction of the family line of Oedipus.

Antigone: Translated by F. L. Light

Prince Kreon, enforcing an arbitrary mandate, is enraged that Antigone would abide by a natural law of sisterly respect in contradiction of his will. As neither can be reconciled with the other's acts, the drama grows devoutly tenebrous. This translation is iambic, as is most of the text in Greek.

The Oedipus Plays: An Audible Original Drama

The three Theban plays by Sophocles - Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone - are one of the great landmarks of Western theatre. They tell the story of Oedipus, King of Thebes, who was destined to suffer a terrible fate - to kill his father, marry his mother, and beget children of the incestuous union. He does this unknowingly but still has to suffer terrible consequences, which also tragically affect the next generation.

Andromache

Euripides' classic tragedy in a new verse translation and a new, full cast audio production. After Troy fell to the Greeks, Andromache, the wife of the slain Trojan king Hector, was taken as prize and given to Achilles' son Neoptolemus as his concubine. He treated her kindly, and in the fullness of time she bore him a son. But Neoptolemus went on to take as his wife Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus, but she could bear him no children. Enraged with jealousy, Hermione plots the death of Andromache.

Hamlet: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition

Hamlet, Shakespeare's most popular, and perhaps most puzzling play, follows the form of a "revenge tragedy", in which the hero, Hamlet, seeks vengeance against his father’s murderer, his uncle Claudius, now the king of Denmark. Much of its fascination, however, lies in its uncertainties. This new full-cast recording - based on the most respected edition of Shakespeare's classic - expertly produced by the Folger Theatre, is perfect for students, teachers, and the everyday listener.

Oedipus at Colonus

In Oedipus at Colonus, the banished king, after years of wandering, accompanied by his faithful daughter Antigone, finds himself in Athens. Receiving a warm if guarded welcome from Theseus, King of Athens, he prepares to settle himself to spend his last days in peace. However, unwelcome visitors from his tortured past continue to haunt him until the very end.

Oedipus the King: A Translation by F.L. Light

Aristotle's assertion that in Greek tragedy there is no loftier work than Oedipus the King cannot be lightly contradicted. This drama is endued fearfully with nature, as she works against the conscientiousness of measure found in man. Heretofore no translation of this play has been a poem of Sophoclean worthiness and work. The rhythmic stature of this translation runs with the Greek in heat and light.

Prometheus Bound

When a jealous Zeus discovers that the compassionate Titan, Prometheus, has introduced the gift of fire to liberate mere mortals from oppression and servitude, he has Prometheus bound to a rocky prison in the Scythian desert, where the god discloses the reason for his punishment.

A Doll House

A new recording of Henrik Ibsen's masterpiece, starring Calista Flockhart. Nora Helmer has everything a young housewife could want: beautiful children, an adoring husband, and a bright future. But when a carelessly buried secret rises from the past, Nora's well-calibrated domestic ideal starts to crumble. Ibsen's play is as fresh today as it was when it first stormed the stages of 19th-century Europe.

The Aeneid

The Aeneid represents one of the greatest cultural and artistic achievements of Western Civilization. Within the brooding and melancholy atmosphere of Virgil's pious masterpiece lies the mythic story of Aeneas and his flight from burning Troy, taking with him across the Mediterranean the survivors of the Greek onslaught. Aeneas, after many travails and adventures, including a love affair with Dido Queen of Carthage and a visit to the underworld to see his father, ends up in Italy.

The Works and Days

Among the finest poets of ancient Greece was Hesiod, a contemporary of Homer, who lived in the eighth century B.C. It is still a matter of dispute whether Homer or Hesiod was the earlier poet, and sometimes whether they were one and the same person! At any rate, Hesiod's incredible poetry serves as a major source for our understanding of Greek mythology, farming practices, time keeping and astronomy. In and of itself, the "Works and Days" is unparalleled in its richness and beauty, easily rivaling Homer.

Symposium

The Greek word sumposion means a drinking party (a fact shamefully ignored by the organizers of modern symposia), and the party described in Plato's Symposium is one supposedly given in the year 416 BC by the playwright Agathon to celebrate his victory in the dramatic festival of the Lenaea. He has already given one party, the previous evening; this second party is for a select group of friends, and host and guests alike are feeling a little frail.

Plato's Meno

A dialogue between Socrates and Meno probes the subject of ethics. Can goodness be taught? If it can, then we should be able to find teachers capable of instructing others about what is good and bad, right and wrong, or just and unjust.

Macbeth

Infamously known as the cursed Scottish play, Macbeth is perhaps Shakespeare’s darkest tragedy. When General Macbeth is foretold by three witches that he will one day be King of Scotland, Lady Macbeth convinces him to get rid of anyone who could stand in his way – including committing regicide. As Macbeth ascends to the throne through bloody murder, he becomes a tyrant consumed by fear and paranoia.

Sophocles is one of the greatest play writes to have ever lived. Oedipus tackles one several important themes in greek literature including: free will, justice, family, friendship. Exceptional translation and pertinence of this wonderful greek play.

I needed to quickly re-read this to help out a college student who works for me (I often use this as an excuse to re-read great works! lol) and this version is wonderful. Great voices and performances, easy to understand - as the work is a play - listening really brings it to life in a way that reading just cannot. BUT - the absolute best part of this production is the incredibly in depth discussion at the end - the discussion covered every question my worker had asked me to clarify and so much more.
I, myself, love a good brit accent - in truth....makes my knees go weak, but I know many Americans can't decipher them - so this is done by American actors - very good ones, so if that is a concern for you - you will enjoy this production.

I downloaded this because I needed to listen to Oedipus Rex for a poetry and drama class, and I'm glad I went with this version. When anyone does a version of any of the Greek Tragedies they have to translate from the original Ancient Greek, and thus your milage will vary depending on a number of factors. The director of this performance, as he explained in the interview following the play, which was a very nice touch, states that he chose too make the language modern, but of a more proper sort that still retain the tone of the original Greek.

It's kind of like dubbing anime; you stay as close to the original as possible while making changes when necessary, not to take away from the original, but to make it more relatable to the audience and easier to understand.

OK, it's old, I get that, and it had a lot of influence on later drama. There are plenty of good reasons to want to listen to this play which, like all the LA Theatreworks pieces, is extremely well produced; but one of them is not that it's actually an enjoyable listen. Drama has evolved somewhat over the last 2500 years. We expect things like character development and suspense. You're not going to get those here.

You already know the Oedipus story: he kills his father and marries his mother. This story is told through the framing device of Oedipus, several years later, having all this explained to him and then refusing to believe it, insisting on having various people brought to him to confirm that what we all know is true is true. The drama comes from Oedipus telling us over and over just how much he's suffering, moaning pitifully (though the modern take would be more ick than woe is me). Again, the actors do a great job, but it's still really boring.

Look, call me a Philistine if you'd like, I have nothing to prove to you. I'm a huge fan of live theater and strongly recommend most of the LA Theatreworks productions. Again, this is an important work for historical reasons, and if that's enough for you, by all means listen to it. But don't expect to be entertained because it's just not entertaining.